natural girls
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Hi I just started chemo last week and the se's sucked fairly bad- had a reaction to Taxotere, I am going to try a lot more natural ways to help myself through the next 5. When I was first dx, I said ok surgery, NO CHEMO. poison poison poison my body told me. I had a positive lymph node tho and more research done convinced me to do the chemo. I still wonder if I'm doing the right thing, but I feel like I have to give fighting it everything. I think combining conventional medicine with alternative is the wave of the future. If enough of us speak up and demand attention for things, eventually they will listen.
To hear that some docs say that diet doesn't make a lick of difference is so maddening. I have been given zero advice on diet/nutrition to help with chemo.
I am glad to join this thread and can't wait to hear all the good ideas.
One thing I have come across that I think is really worth a lot more research is the idea that bras contribute to cancer. I have always been a bra-wearer- I found it uncomfortable to go without. I hardly ever wore underwires,but I wore sports bras 24-7 practically.
There are statements by the ACS that discredit the little research that has been done- saying "there is no evidence that bras cause cancer" Which is true, the main study that has been done does not meet the criteria for a "scientific" study. I don't think enough has been done to defintively prove it- but the reasoning behind it seems pretty sound and if telling young women that there COULD be a chance it does influences them to wear them less and maybe that works- what the hell does that cost (well the it costs the bra manufactures money- who might sue, so until there is irrefutable proof, they must deny there is any chance it could be true.
(NaturalNews) Is it possible that wearing a bra can actually cause cancer? Studies show that this is a very real possibility. The reason is that regularly wearing a bra prevents lymph drainage and circulation, which can greatly increase the possibility of developing breast cancer.
The lymphatic and circulatory systems are responsible for both delivering vital nutrients and clearing out toxins. When the body does not have access to nutrients or when it is under the attack of toxins, cancer may develop.
A study published in the European Journal of Cancer studied factors for breast cancer such as breast size and handedness. They discovered that premenopausal women who do not wear bras are less than half as likely to get breast cancer that those who regularly wear a bra. A study conducted by researcher David Moth revealed that even the lightest bras place pressure on the lymphatic system.
Other research published in Chronobiology International in 2000 discovered that regular bra wearing decreases the production of melatonin, which is a potent natural antioxidant and the hormone that regulates sleep, boosts the immune system and, incredibly fights aging. Balanced melatonin levels are essential for the body to fight many types of cancer, including breast cancer.
Researchers Singer and Grismaijer observed 4,500 women and their bra wearing practices. An amazing 3 out of 4 women who wore their bras 24 hours per day developed breast cancer. Women who wore their bras more than 12 hours per day had a 1 in 7 chance of getting breast cancer. 1 out 152 women who wore their bra less than 12 hours a day got breast cancer and an incredibly low 1 out of 168 women who rarely or never wear a bra developed breast cancer.
These same researchers studied the indigenous populations of New Zealand and Australia. The Maoris, who are indigenous to New Zealand, are basically fully integrated into mainstream New Zealand life and interestingly have the same chances of developing breast cancer. The aboriginals of Australia on the other hand have not integrated into regular western society and do not regularly wear bras, and have practically no breast cancer. Japanese, Fijians, and many women from other cultures were found to have a significantly higher chance of developing breast cancer when they began wearing bras.
It may be interesting to note that a very small proportion of men do develop breast cancer, exactly the same amount as women who go braless!I also read somewhere else that fibrocystic breast disease can be alleviating by dropping the bra. I'm not saying everyone should stop wearing a bra instantly- but if even just reducing the time you spend in one can make a difference isn't that worth it?
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Wow, very interesting, thanks for posting this!
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Amber, I found all kinds of oils at Whole Foods. Believe it or not, the SuperTarget has the grapeseed oil, which is also antioxidant, so I feel doubly good about putting it on my torso after a shower or bath. The skin is the largest organ in the body and absorbs things better than injesting does. I never wore rubber gloves before, but now I realize how important it is to wear them when cleaning, painting, and in my case, tiling, (which I do a lot of) so that all those free radicals are not absorbed into the body through the skin.
About the chocolate-this is the one thing I will not give up. I refuse to be total matyr. I can give up the sugar, the alcohol, the dairy, the junk food, but I cannot go a day without chocolate. The dark chocolates are indeed antioxidants. They should be at least 70% cocoa, the higher the better. I do not even like the taste of milk chocolate now that I have gotten use to the dark. It is too sweet. I admit, I probably eat more than I should, but I do not feel guilty. As I said, a girl has to have some vice!
Glad to see some new natural gals joining us. I hope you will all chime in with what you have learned and are trying. We are all in this together and the more postive steps we take towards a healthier lifestyle, the better the chances are that we will not have recurrances. Going "natural" does not mean we are anti traditional medicine. It just means we believe in going beyond what traditional doctors recommend and want to do more to take control of our own health.
Alyad, very interesting info about the bra. I had read that before somewhere, and it was great to have it reinforced. I too wore a sports bra most of the time. Now I wear a tshirt instead of a bra, under my winter clothes. Not sure what I am going to do come summer. I love going braless, but I am not sure I will brave the lobsided look.
How about if we all list the supplements we take?
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you girls are encouraging.
Alyad.....I am with you on the bra....and Vivre, I hate wearing a bra and have resorted to the softee camisole I was given after my resection......I wear a bra when I have too and I too dread the summer.
Vivre thanks for the info on the grapeseed oil....I am all for it...
I have been on the flaxseed oil/cottage cheese for a week....my scalp psoriasis itching was almost gone....then I went off the bandwagon and ate two meals with white rice yesterday....and ate over a half a bar of Ghiardi 72% dark chocloate( a little over 1 serving)....but last night the itching flared up....I think it is the sugar.....from the chocolate bar and the rice.....and oh yeah i forgot the Hawaian roll. So I have been up since around 3 am or earlier. I also still have the lump, though it seems a bit smaller since I started my period yesterday....almost couldn't even find it....but I hope it is hormones and that the flax mixture will help either/or. I had my mammogram in January....the area comes and goes....darn it when I feel it/I can't help but worry....thinking it won't get smaller or dissipate....I never thought about these things until bc....but I will give it time and try not to think about it.....
Anyway this week eating the flax mixture and not eating hardly any processed food, has made me feel great.
Vivre, good idea on the supplements list:
mine:
Daily:
1. CoQ10 200mg
2. Vitamin D-3
3. Acai Berry
use intermittently:
1. multivitamin
2. dandelion root
3. garlic
4. fish oil
5. milk thistle
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Lili,
The facial moisturizer I'm currently using is Burt's Bees with royal jelly. They offer daytime and nighttime lotions and an eye cream. No parabens.
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my favorite green drink..
i grow mint (several kinds) and parsley.
i take 3 - 4 cups of chopped mint and parsley and blend it with pineapple juice.. unbelievably delicious. (my mint patch grows larger every year). i am really looking forward to this summer.
i suppose you could strain it.
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Apple, that DOES sound good! And about the mint: it will TAKE OVER your garden! It has a very strong underground root system (sorry, you probably know this!). I keep mine in a pot buried up to its rim in the ground, so that the roots don't have a chance to spread.
And yes, SO ready for spring and summer!
Cheers, Linda
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amberyba: I've been dealing with psoriasis for a long time. Here's what I've learned by trial and error - it might help you, it might not.
Avoid all refined carbs. This is major rule #Uno. (When I must cheat with candy I eat 80% dark choc or a few bittersweet chips, which kills the crave quick, or Almond Roca. There is apparently so much almond oil and crushed almonds in this candy that, for me, it counteracts the bad stuff - if I don't eat too much of it. It is the ony candy I can eat with no consequences up to 4-5 pcs. Everything else gives me at least a minor reaction of increased itching.)
Eat a handful of almonds or walnuts daily. This is major rule #Dos (and lay off the peanuts)
Limit grains to millet, quinoa, and brown/wild rice, but don't eat too much of these, either.
Avoid tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and any other varieties of the nightshade plant family. (found this one out recently)
Two supplements that specifically help psoriasis patches the fastest (again, for me) are L-lysine and a balanced capsule of omega 3 and 6 combined.
Also helpful: using only cocoanut oil for cooking, using only very small amts of butter for condiment, using olive oil (cold pressed) as much as possible for non-heated dishes.
Eating large quantities of raw and/or wilted kale and spinach also speed up the healing of psoriasis patches, as well as making my hair and nails stronger. When I get tired of the Kale and spinach and give 'em up for a few week, the nails start peeling. I know this b/c I do get tired of it, and b/c it's also a little pricey to eat like this. But, as soon as I get back to what I'm supposed to do it gets better.
Oh, and one more thing: stress will cause me to get a psoriasis breakout, even when I'm eating perfectly. I haven't yet had the chance to try a Bcomplex supplement, which really helps with stress, as do the healthy oils and fats (good for the nervous system). I'm also wondering if switching to an organic salt and tossing the refined stuff out, will help. (I quit adding salt to my food years ago, think I'm gonna start adding the unrefined stuff in, now, for trace minerals.) You can find that in the grocery stores pretty easily these days. I just found out about the unrefined salt, and how important salt is for nearly every function of the body.
And just so no one misunderstands me, I'm nowhere near perfect about this list. Right now, both elbows are cracked, scaly and itching and the one patch on the back of my knuckles went from almost gone to inflamed and itching. *g* I had an organic peanutbutter and raw honey sandwich on whole wheat. That was breaking enough rules at one time that not even the walnuts I added to the middle helped. Tho, it might have been better to put in a handfull of almonds and take a couple of L-lysines immediately afterwards....
A thing worth considering: psoriasis is not a skin problem, it's an immune problem. It's not accident that the things that help are also things that support healthy immune function!
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D-ann, you might try taking more fish oil supplements. I take 2-3 per day and it has really improved my hair and skin. In fact, while walking in the park one day, a women complimented me on how healthy my hair looked. That sure made my day. I haven't been complimented by a stranger in years.
Here is my daily intake of supplements:
vit D- 2 drops (2000 iu each, Carlson brand) per day in my tea, down from 6000 iu. My D level went from low 20's to mid 40's to over 100 in the course of the year. I get very little D from the sun. It is either too cold, or I keep most of my skin covered in the summer. I cut back on the D after my blood test showed such a big improvement.
indole 3 carbonol-150mg day
vit C- 500 mg twice a day, supposedly the body can only absorb 500 at a time
Mineral Multi from vitamin shoppe, which includes mag, cal, etc, etc. I take half a tab, twice/day
400 iu, vit E
grape seed
curcumin
cinnamon(helps to balance insulin)
b complex
melatonin at bedtime
CoQ10-150 mg
Omega 3 complex-2-3000 day
probiotic
alternate selenium and beta carotene
I drink lots of green tea or mineral water with lemon or lime throughout the day. I no longer drink any sodas. I also drink watered down OJ with lunch.
My favorite chocolate addiction: Trader's Joes sells dark choc covered almonds that are rolled in cocoa. They are so good, and the almond taken with choc, really balances any possible insulin effects.
Apple, I gave up on mint because, as Linda said, it took over my garden. However, I do grow catnip for my cats, and I was just reading how great it is for human digestion too. Maybe I will try some this summer. I wonder if my cats will all be jumping in my lap if I try to drink some catnip tea!
As far as the cosmetics go, vaseline is a NONO. I use to use this stuff constantly, especially on my lips think it was "mineral". It finally dawned on me that it is petroleum jelly. DUH??? So basically it is motor oil. Yuck!
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Vivre,
great supplements....i ate some dark chocolate this weekend...wish I could have found trader joes...but settled for ghiardi 72% dark....I read that if there is any milk in the dark chocolate that it negates the antioxidant effects....the ghiardi brand doesn't list milk in the ingredients, but on the label i notice it is produced in a factory that uses milk...so it is like the company gives an outlet that the product maybe affected by milk.
I have had a tiring day...the ED was hard work, even though I only worked 4 hours...then I went to the golf course and walked a couple of miles...I am so tired....I went to my family doctor yesterday morning....he is following up with my elevated liver enzymes that occured when I was on the tamoxifen....they were normal in December, and I am hoping for a normal on all the labs drawn...my vit d level was 24 in October and yesterday is the first time since I have started using the Vit D supplement that the doctor is following up to see if the levels have reached a normal level...
A lot of discouragements can come our way, I was reading my Bible when I had to wait in the lobby before my doctor's appt yesterday and I came across this verse.
1Thess 5:24
Faithful is He who calls you and He also will bring it to pass.
We will always face trials and discouragements.....but the Lord is faithful and will bring things to pass....
good night all
Amber
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Amber , what a wonderful verse. It is all about faith isn't it. Not just faith that God will pull us through, but faith that He has created this amazing human body that has the power to heal as long as we feed it what it needs.
They let you walk at the golf course?? Do you hear a lot of FORE!?
Last year, when I played golf, I actually played better with out my rt boob in the way. LOL! Just trying to find one good thing about all this, besides all you cyber natural breast friends.
D-ann, have you ever done a test to determine which foods your body tolerates and which it does not. I did one and it was really interesting. It was kind of funny but foods I have never liked were how on my list of toxic foods, like brewers yeast and baking yeast. I have always hated beer and rarely eat breads. It had a couple of surprises like seseme seeds and quinoa, so I try to avoid them. You might want to try this kind of test to help learn what might agravate your skin problems.
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D-ann.
thanks for the psoriasis suggestions. my son has it - he never complains but he has patches everywhere. I recently bought a book 'your healing diet' = a quick guide to reversing psoriasis...... by Deirdre Earls. Trying to get a 14 year old boy to not eat 'manfood' as he calls it, is a challenge. thankfully he likes almonds since i munch them hourly.
I have a separate bed for mints only btw. i have never investigated whether ingesting quantities of mint is actually good for you. i should.
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No, I"ve never done the allergy tests...I've just paid close attention to what I feel like when I eat. That is, when I wanted to pay attention. LOL I've listened to family members talk about what it's like to take those tests, and it sounds most aggravating. I figured, if I really want to know I can just pay attention. I have a pretty long list of things that I shouldn't eat, and can tell you how each of them affects me. Admittedly, there's been long stretches of time when I didn't really want to pay attention or follow the dietary guidelines, and just ignored it all.
I think, now, I can't afford to do that.
Frankly, while I do have the general direction of the changes I intend to make, I'm pretty overwhelmed by all of this. It's less complicated to just get on the conveyor belt and let the docs do thier thing and follow their directions. I really can't do that, I just wish I could so I wouldn't have to figure all this stuff out. (sorry, felt like whining. done now!)
So, Vivre, have you done any juicing? I'm looking Juice Feasting. Mike Adams talks about it on his site and David Rainshek has the whole thing in extraordinary detail on the Juice Feasting site. If anyone wants it, I'll look up the link.
It will be a lot of work to juice that much, but it look to be the equivalent of flooding your body with dense nutrition. Sounds like detox happens naturally and without the usual discomforts of fasting. And I can't think of a better way to help my body heal than to immerse it in dense nutrtion. I wouldn't be able to do this until after my surgery (upcoming, tbd) but I'm thinking I'll start supplements pretty quick:
DIM
MSM
VIT D
That's all I can remember off the top of my head, I have a list. Gotta finish waking up and go help Mom install a program on her 'puter.
I'll check back in, in a few!
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I like this thread! I`ve been stage IV for 9 years now .Mets in lungs, liver and bones. I had radiation. chemo, zometa and tamoxifen. After chemo I started to read aboat other ways to fight cancer. I´ve just red the book "Anti Cancer". I must have done something right, my onc told me because my options wasn´t so good 9 years ago. Sorry to say, they found out I have a brain toumor but after radiation I feel fine now. Good nutrition must make a difference, even with cancer.
Anna
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Thank you Anna for your story. That is what I'm trying to educate people about...do what you can as prevention and also you CAN keep your body healthy as possible while fighting stage four. You go Girl! You give me hope when doctor's are telling me maybe five years at the time of dx and I'm now 31/2 years have passed by. I still only have local disease after all this time. You can have a life with cancer. It's about taking control of your health in ways the doctor never address that let's us fight the harmful side effects of treatment and maintain quality of life. If we can do this with stage IV disease they should hope of staying off a recurrence.
May God continue to bless you,
Flalady
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Anna, thanks for joining us. You can really inspire us with all you have learned. I hope you will continue to chime in with your sage advice!
D-ann, the test I took was not a food allergy test. It was a simple blood test that simply looked at the way your blood reacted to various foods. It was not cheap, but was very helpful in determining what not to eat. My doctor sent it to a immunology tab in Fla that does some high tech analysis. I don't do a lot of juicing because I just hate wasting all those veggies. I know it is so good for you, but it is so expensive and I hate the clean up. I tend to prefer just eating my veggies. Maybe in the summer, when more fresh stuff is available, I might try it again. I do think I am going to seriously think about growing sprouts. A friend told me to check out
thesproutpeople.com
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Aaaaah, Vivre, thanks for explaining! Well, I'd love to do that kind of test, but I don't think that I can afford to do it, if it's expensive. I'll ask my GP if he can do it for me and get my insurance to cover the cost. If so, that would be extremely helpful!
As for juicing as a waste of vegies, I don't see it that way. Yes, you don't consume the fiber, but the idea is to make it possible for your body to absorb a lot of dense nutrition while giving the digestive tract a rest and facilitating detox. So, you use more vegetables for a serving of juice than you'd be able to eat in one meal.
Net results: denser nutrition with less actual volume consumed. That extra volume not consumed is the fiber you throw out, leaving more room for the nutrients. That's not really wasting vegies, IMO.
It is a lot of work, costs more, and the cleanup can be a bite. *g* I can't imagine living on juice all the time! But to do it for a period to bathe the body in pure, dense nutrition, for healing's sake, does make some sense to me. I'm quite sure I couldn't start off with a 90+ day juice feast! I'll start doing the primarily vegie diet with supplements, with a few days of just juicing to get acclimated to the process. Depending on how that goes, I may eventually build that up into extended juice feasting. I dunno, we'll see. I certainly won't be starting until fresh foods are coming in from places closer than Chile and Mexico. lol And I really want to garden, this year, which might not be significantly helpful for juicing til fall. I might not even be able to handle one big enough to make a difference in my food budget until next year. But I plan on getting the ball rolling this spring!
I know that detox is really important, in all this, and I've done it (years ago). Ugh. I am looking at ways to make that a less traumatic process, as I've never gone thru it without being miserable til it was over. The juice feast approach to juicing appears to address that issue.
I grew sprouts back in the 80's, when I was doing the homegrown/organic thing while my girls were little. It's really, really easy! I haven't done it for 20 years, so I'm gonna be looking at the contemporary methods, myself! I don't recommend the ones you find in the grocery store...they're already too old, when they arrive at the store!
I really love the contributions you make, here, Vivre! Thank you!
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I admit that I am not a trained nutritionist, but...it seems to me that if we can build up our immune systems we will be better off. Everytime we have to fight a cold, infection, virus, etc...our immune system needs to replenish itself. I see so many people talk about an all vegetarian diet or raw diet and I know that what the body is made of - is protein. Good sources of protein daily. Now, I should talk because often I am too tired to prepare a good quality protein meal. And another thing to help your immune system is to avoid white sugar and white sugar products (Yes, I absolutely CRAVE cookies!!!) But, I am doing my best to eat clean. Of course while you are going through chemo and rads its probably more important that you just eat, period. But, then after that how you take care of your "new" body is more important. I find old habits hard to break, but looking back, I've discarded several of them and will try to treat my body as the beautiful gift it is. (I'm only human, however.) Looking forward to reading more of this thread. - Debs
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debisongbird:
I use organic brown sugar instead of white sugar.
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Hi Ladies
Wow there is so much knowledge here, Im hoping that you can help. I have stage 4 with mets to spine. Im on tamoxifen and M-Eslon which is a slow release morphine for the pain.
Since April I think of 2008 I have been taking tamoxifen, and since then I have put on about 25 kilos....which as you can imagine doesnt do my back any good.
I have tried asking my onc for help, he said he would recommend me to a dietian but I have heard nothing and that was two months ago.
Im at my wits end and was wondering if I did some of the things that you ladies are doing would it help???? I also do shiftwork which doesnt help the sleeping habits.
I would appreciate any help that you could give me on how to be more natural in my life so that I live longer and happier.
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Welcome kiwibeastiebabe. You've come a long way-from the land under the land down under! I have always wanted to go to NZ. It sounds beautiful. Go out and revel in that God's country you live in! Communing with nature is one of the healthiest things to do! Also, Check out some of FlaLady's posts. She has such great advice and is the voice of experience around here. We hope we will all inspire you to find things that make you feel healthier. We look forward to your input.
Welcome too, Sim and debisong- keep in mind that sugar feeds cancer more than anything else we eat. I know it was a major factor for me, because I was a sugarholic. Sugar is sugar, whether it is brown, honey, stevia, etc. The body does not know the difference. Some sugars may be less potent than others, but they all break down the same way in the human body. Even alcohol and starchy foods break down into glucose just as white sugar does. They cause spikes in insulin which effect the way the body functions. The healthiest diet is one that is glucose free as much as possible. It is hard to do it all the time, but even a small thing like drinking unsweetened tea can make a big difference. After a week or two of drinking plain tea, you will come to prefer it. Also, do not put any milk in it. If there are two things that I credit the most now with giving me my health back, it is the fact that I cut out sugar and dairy.
In case you missed the recommendation before. Read "Your life in your Hand" by Jane Plant, a stage IV survivor who has kept cancer at bay with a clean diet and cutting out dairy.
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Hello All--I just wanted to say that this is a great thread. I was dx in the beginning of Feb., had a lumpectomy on 2/24 and am now waiting to see an oncologist on April 15. I guess I probably won't have to go through chemo, only radiation, but in the meantime I have been trying to find as much info as I can on the correlation between nutrition and cancer and I am just shocked at the lack of solid information out there. I am convinced that part of the reason that cancer and breast cancer in particular has become an epidemic in this country is because of our diet. I will continue to read this thread with great interest and contribute if I come up with anything myself, but I just wanted to say thanks for all of this great info.
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Green tea, mushrooms cut breast cancer risk: study
3 days ago
SYDNEY (AFP) - Chinese women who ate mushrooms and drank green tea significantly cut their risk of breast cancer and the severity of the cancer in those who did develop it, an Australian researcher said Wednesday.
Min Zhang, from the University of Western Australia, studied the diets of 2,018 women from the southeastern Chinese city of Hangzhou -- half of whom had breast cancer -- between July 2004 and September 2005.
While breast cancer was the most common type of cancer for women worldwide, Min said the rate in China was four to five times lower than that typically found in developed countries.
"We concluded that higher dietary intake of mushrooms decreased breast cancer risk in pre- and post-menopausal Chinese women, and an additional decreased risk of breast cancer from the joint effect of mushrooms and green tea was observed," Min told AFP.
"The risk of breast cancer significantly declined with the highest intake of dietary mushrooms," she said, adding that fresh and dried mushrooms were equally effective.
Eating as little as 10 grams, or less than one button mushroom daily, would have a beneficial effect, Min found, with the women who consumed the most fresh mushrooms around two-thirds less likely to develop breast cancer compared with those who did not eat mushrooms.
In addition to lowering the cancer risk, green tea and mushrooms also cut the malignancy of any cancer which did form, Min found.
The fact that the combination of green tea and mushrooms was more effective than just mushrooms alone could partially explain the lower incidence of breast cancer amongst Chinese women, she said.
"To our knowledge, this is the first human study to evaluate the joint effect of mushrooms and green tea on breast cancer," she said.
"Our findings, if confirmed consistently in other research, have potential implications for protection against breast cancer development using an inexpensive dietary intervention."
The study was published in the most recent issue of the International Journal of Cancer, and is one in a series of Asian studies by Min and her team on the anti-carcinogenic effects of phytochemicals.
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So glad to see the green tea/mushroom study. I am a huge green tea drinker and I love mushrooms. I eat them almost everyday and prefer shitake. I eat them so much that my mother sent me a "shitake mushroom minifarm". I got it last week and I have already harvested about a pound of shitake mushrooms. I should be able to continue to harvest them for 6 months. My kids think I've lost it but what's new. It's a riot to watch.
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I'd like to join, please. My dr recommended a book called Cooking With Foods That fight Cancer, written by cancer reserachers in Montreal. author Richard Beliveau. I'm trying to eat something from the cabbage family every day, for indole-3-carbinols. I discovered a delicious salad full of good anti-cancer foods I'd like to share: baby spinach, finely sliced strawberries, finely sliced raw brussels sprouts,sliced cucumber, topped with toasted almonds (or other nuts) with your fave home-made vinaigrette ( I use olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, large-grain dijon mustard, s & p) yum!
I'm enjoying reading what you all do...and will try to do more. thanks & cheers
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vivre
Sugar does not feed the cancer! The chemicals that are used in the sugar process are carcinogens not the sugar.
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Sugar is not about carcinogens when we talk about it with cancer. It how the body uses processed sugars. Cancer cells multiple very fast and need a lot of energy. Sugars in our body turn to energy that cancer cells use to food. Sugar does not cause cancer but they create fast useless energy for cancer cells. Other nutritional foods do not turn into fast uselss energy in our body.
Flalady
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Simvog, like many things, there are differences of opinion on what does and does not feed cancer. I prefer to err on the side of caution and have taken most sugar out of my diet. You certainly have the right to believe whatever you want and eat as much sugar as you want. I hope you have continued good health.
Cancer's Sweet Tooth
by Patrick Quillin, PHD, RD, CNS
From The April 2000 Issue of Nutrition Science NewsDuring the last 10 years I have worked with more than 500 cancer patients as director of nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Okla. It puzzles me why the simple concept "sugar feeds cancer" can be so dramatically overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan.
Of the 4 million cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to "just eat good foods." Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice. I believe many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer's preferred fuel, glucose. By slowing the cancer's growth, patients allow their immune systems and medical debulking therapies -- chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to reduce the bulk of the tumor mass -- to catch up to the disease. Controlling one's blood-glucose levels through diet, supplements, exercise, meditation and prescription drugs when necessary can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer recovery program. The sound bite -- sugar feeds cancer -- is simple. The explanation is a little more complex.
The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis -- a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic byproduct -- compared to normal tissues.1 The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup.2,3 Thus, larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic pH.4
This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose. By extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body's calorie stores, the cancer is "wasting" energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. This vicious cycle increases body wasting.5 It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia.6
Hence, cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite, medication, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction. Professional guidance and patient self-discipline are crucial at this point in the cancer process. The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function.
The glycemic index is a measure of how a given food affects blood-glucose levels, with each food assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the slower the digestion and absorption process, which provides a healthier, more gradual infusion of sugars into the bloodstream. Conversely, a high rating means blood-glucose levels are increased quickly, which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. This rapid fluctuation of blood-sugar levels is unhealthy because of the stress it places on the body (see glycemic index chart, p. 166).
Sugar in the Body and Diet
Sugar is a generic term used to identify simple carbohydrates, which includes monosaccharides such as fructose, glucose and galactose; and disaccharides such as maltose and sucrose (white table sugar). Think of these sugars as different-shaped bricks in a wall. When fructose is the primary monosaccharide brick in the wall, the glycemic index registers as healthier, since this simple sugar is slowly absorbed in the gut, then converted to glucose in the liver. This makes for "time-release foods," which offer a more gradual rise and fall in blood-glucose levels. If glucose is the primary monosaccharide brick in the wall, the glycemic index will be higher and less healthy for the individual. As the brick wall is torn apart in digestion, the glucose is pumped across the intestinal wall directly into the bloodstream, rapidly raising blood-glucose levels. In other words, there is a "window of efficacy" for glucose in the blood: levels too low make one feel lethargic and can create clinical hypoglycemia; levels too high start creating the rippling effect of diabetic health problems.The 1997 American Diabetes Association blood-glucose standards consider 126 mg glucose/dL blood or greater to be diabetic; 126 mg/dL is impaired glucose tolerance and less than 110 mg/dL is considered normal. Meanwhile, the Paleolithic diet of our ancestors, which consisted of lean meats, vegetables and small amounts of whole grains, nuts, seeds and fruits, is estimated to have generated blood glucose levels between 60 and 90 mg/dL.7 Obviously, today's high-sugar diets are having unhealthy effects as far as blood-sugar is concerned. Excess blood glucose may initiate yeast overgrowth, blood vessel deterioration, heart disease and other health conditions.8
Understanding and using the glycemic index is an important aspect of diet modification for cancer patients. However, there is also evidence that sugars may feed cancer more efficiently than starches (comprised of long chains of simple sugars), making the index slightly misleading. A study of rats fed diets with equal calories from sugars and starches, for example, found the animals on the high-sugar diet developed more cases of breast cancer.9 The glycemic index is a useful tool in guiding the cancer patient toward a healthier diet, but it is not infallible. By using the glycemic index alone, one could be led to thinking a cup of white sugar is healthier than a baked potato. This is because the glycemic index rating of a sugary food may be lower than that of a starchy food. To be safe, I recommend less fruit, more vegetables, and little to no refined sugars in the diet of cancer patients.
What the Literature Says
A mouse model of human breast cancer demonstrated that tumors are sensitive to blood-glucose levels. Sixty-eight mice were injected with an aggressive strain of breast cancer, then fed diets to induce either high blood-sugar (hyperglycemia), normoglycemia or low blood-sugar (hypoglycemia). There was a dose-dependent response in which the lower the blood glucose, the greater the survival rate. After 70 days, 8 of 24 hyperglycemic mice survived compared to 16 of 24 normoglycemic and 19 of 20 hypoglycemic.10 This suggests that regulating sugar intake is key to slowing breast tumor growth (see chart, p. 164).In a human study, 10 healthy people were assessed for fasting blood-glucose levels and the phagocytic index of neutrophils, which measures immune-cell ability to envelop and destroy invaders such as cancer. Eating 100 g carbohydrates from glucose, sucrose, honey and orange juice all significantly decreased the capacity of neutrophils to engulf bacteria. Starch did not have this effect.11
A four-year study at the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection in the Netherlands compared 111 biliary tract cancer patients with 480 controls. Cancer risk associated with the intake of sugars, independent of other energy sources, more than doubled for the cancer patients.12 Furthermore, an epidemiological study in 21 modern countries that keep track of morbidity and mortality (Europe, North America, Japan and others) revealed that sugar intake is a strong risk factor that contributes to higher breast cancer rates, particularly in older women.13
Limiting sugar consumption may not be the only line of defense. In fact, an interesting botanical extract from the avocado plant (Persea americana) is showing promise as a new cancer adjunct. When a purified avocado extract called mannoheptulose was added to a number of tumor cell lines tested in vitro by researchers in the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University in Britain, they found it inhibited tumor cell glucose uptake by 25 to 75 percent, and it inhibited the enzyme glucokinase responsible for glycolysis. It also inhibited the growth rate of the cultured tumor cell lines. The same researchers gave lab animals a 1.7 mg/g body weight dose of mannoheptulose for five days; it reduced tumors by 65 to 79 percent.14 Based on these studies, there is good reason to believe that avocado extract could help cancer patients by limiting glucose to the tumor cells.
Since cancer cells derive most of their energy from anaerobic glycolysis, Joseph Gold, M.D., director of the Syracuse (N.Y.) Cancer Research Institute and former U.S. Air Force research physician, surmised that a chemical called hydrazine sulfate, used in rocket fuel, could inhibit the excessive gluconeogenesis (making sugar from amino acids) that occurs in cachectic cancer patients. Gold's work demonstrated hydrazine sulfate's ability to slow and reverse cachexia in advanced cancer patients. A placebo-controlled trial followed 101 cancer patients taking either 6 mg hydrazine sulfate three times/day or placebo. After one month, 83 percent of hydrazine sulfate patients increased their weight, compared to 53 percent on placebo.15 A similar study by the same principal researchers, partly funded by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., followed 65 patients. Those who took hydrazine sulfate and were in good physical condition before the study began lived an average of 17 weeks longer.16
In 1990, I called the major cancer hospitals in the country looking for some information on the crucial role of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in cancer patients. Some 40 percent of cancer patients die from cachexia.5 Yet many starving cancer patients are offered either no nutritional support or the standard TPN solution developed for intensive care units. The solution provides 70 percent of the calories going into the bloodstream in the form of glucose. All too often, I believe, these high-glucose solutions for cachectic cancer patients do not help as much as would TPN solutions with lower levels of glucose and higher levels of amino acids and lipids. These solutions would allow the patient to build strength and would not feed the tumor.17
The medical establishment may be missing the connection between sugar and its role in tumorigenesis. Consider the million-dollar positive emission tomography device, or PET scan, regarded as one of the ultimate cancer-detection tools. PET scans use radioactively labeled glucose to detect sugar-hungry tumor cells. PET scans are used to plot the progress of cancer patients and to assess whether present protocols are effective.18
In Europe, the "sugar feeds cancer" concept is so well accepted that oncologists, or cancer doctors, use the Systemic Cancer Multistep Therapy (SCMT) protocol. Conceived by Manfred von Ardenne in Germany in 1965, SCMT entails injecting patients with glucose to increase blood-glucose concentrations. This lowers pH values in cancer tissues via lactic acid formation. In turn, this intensifies the thermal sensitivity of the malignant tumors and also induces rapid growth of the cancer. Patients are then given whole-body hyperthermia (42 C core temperature) to further stress the cancer cells, followed by chemotherapy or radiation.19 SCMT was tested on 103 patients with metastasized cancer or recurrent primary tumors in a clinical phase-I study at the Von Ardenne Institute of Applied Medical Research in Dresden, Germany. Five-year survival rates in SCMT-treated patients increased by 25 to 50 percent, and the complete rate of tumor regression increased by 30 to 50 percent.20 The protocol induces rapid growth of the cancer, then treats the tumor with toxic therapies for a dramatic improvement in outcome.
The irrefutable role of glucose in the growth and metastasis of cancer cells can enhance many therapies. Some of these include diets designed with the glycemic index in mind to regulate increases in blood glucose, hence selectively starving the cancer cells; low-glucose TPN solutions; avocado extract to inhibit glucose uptake in cancer cells; hydrazine sulfate to inhibit gluconeogenesis in cancer cells; and SCMT.
A female patient in her 50s, with lung cancer, came to our clinic, having been given a death sentence by her Florida oncologist. She was cooperative and understood the connection between nutrition and cancer. She changed her diet considerably, leaving out 90 percent of the sugar she used to eat. She found that wheat bread and oat cereal now had their own wild sweetness, even without added sugar. With appropriately restrained medical therapy -- including high-dose radiation targeted to tumor sites and fractionated chemotherapy, a technique that distributes the normal one large weekly chemo dose into a 60-hour infusion lasting days -- a good attitude and an optimal nutrition program, she beat her terminal lung cancer. I saw her the other day, five years later and still disease-free, probably looking better than the doctor who told her there was no hope.
Patrick Quillin, Ph.D., R.D., C.N.S., is director of nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Okla., and author of Beating Cancer With Nutrition (Nutrition Times Press, 1998).
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finely sliced brussels sprouts.. that's an excellent idea.
i guess the finely sliced strawberries kind of turn into the dressing?
Souad I'm going to try your recipe exactly as written, altho on spinach/strawberry salad i really enjoy a light sweet vinaigrette with poppy seeds and a bit of mayo whipped in.
I am quite enjoying this thread!
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